With his imposing frame and piecing eyes, former football player Terry Crews made a formidable transition from athletics to acting, adding an extra dimension to the overworked father figure on the hit UPN comedy series, “Everybody Hates Chris” (2005- ).
Born July 30, 1968 in Flint, MI, this Midwest native fostered two childhood loves – sports and drawing. Upon graduation from high school, he received a Chrysler-sponsored art scholarship at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts in Northern Michigan, as well as an Art Excellence scholarship and a full-ride athletic scholarship for football at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. Crews played defensive end, where he earned All-Conference honors, and his team won the Mid-American Conference Championship in 1988.
In 1991, Crews was drafted into the NFL by the Los Angeles Rams. From there, he was traded onto several teams: the Green Bay Packers, Rhein Fire (an NFL-Europe team in Germany), the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. At the same time he was crushing skulls on the field, Crews continued to draw and utilized his art talent to create a line of lithographs licensed to the NFL.
In 1996, a year before his NFL career ended, Crew co-wrote and co-produced the independent film, “Young Boys Incorporated.” After moving to Los Angeles, Crews was selected to appear in the extreme sports show, “Battle Dome” – a show similar to “American Gladiators” – where he was known as T-Money.
Crews made his feature film debut in 2000 with a small role in the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film, “The 6th Day.” After an uncredited appearance as a gang member in “Training Day” in 2001, the sportsman-turned-actor appeared in a number of bit parts, including in the films “Serving Sara” and “Friday After Next,” both in 2002, as well as an episode of “The District” (CBS, 2002-04) that same year. He went on to land parts as a bartender in “Deliver Us from Eva,” and “Malibu’s Most Wanted,” both in 2003, as well as “Soul Plane,” “Starsky & Hutch” and “White Chicks,” all in 2004. That same year, he landed a bit part in an episode of “CSI: Miami” (CBS) entitled, “Rap Sheet” before appearing in the Adam Sandler comedy hit, “The Longest Yard” (2005) – a remake of the football prison classic, in which an aptly cast Crews played Cheeseburger Eddy, the tough guy with the soft side. The film went on to earn $158 million. Not bad box office for a former football player.
In 2005, comedian Chris Rock chose Crews to portray the integral role of his father in his semi-autobiographical sitcom, “Everybody Hates Chris,” which debuted later that year to solid ratings and critical acclaim. The show, (which debuted on UPN but was set to transfer to the new CW network) about Rock’s adventures growing up, took place in the early 1980s – ironic since, although he appears otherwise, Crews is younger than Rock himself.
While playing that role, Crews continued to take part in other projects, including providing a voice for a 2005 episode of the prime-time animated series “The Boondocks,” and playing a poker player in the 2006 Rob Schneider comedy, “The Benchwarmers,” produced by Sandler. The prolific Crews was scheduled to appear in several more feature films in 2006, including “How to Rob a Bank,” “Idiocracy,” and the David Lynch drama “Inland Empire.”